


Keeping Warm

by NerdChild644461217



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25544866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdChild644461217/pseuds/NerdChild644461217
Summary: Katara is just trying to keep warm, Aang is happy to oblige. Toph and Sokka just want to play their game. Hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	Keeping Warm

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I've never posted on archive before, so this is a first for me! I apologize if the summary is misleading or anything like that, I'm not great with them, but I'm trying! This is for Kataang Week 2020, day one. I wrote a less fluffy ending as well, and I may post that after Kataang Week, but this one is very fluffy, very kataang-y. I hope y'all enjoy!

She muttered under her breath as she pulled another roll off Appa’s saddle.

“For someone who grew up in the South Pole, you sure complain about the cold a lot.” Toph commented from her perch on a tree stump.

Katara fixed her with a glare that of course went unnoticed, but she couldn’t find it in her to care at that particular moment. She was too cold. Night had descended quickly on the small Earth Kingdom town they’d been in that day, and with it, a cold chill in the air that reminded Katara that winter was coming, and rather quickly at that. She’d decided a long time ago that she hated winter. “It’s been almost two years since we’ve been to the _North_ Pole, even longer since we’ve been to the South. And the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation are both usually warm.”

Toph just raised an eyebrow in her general direction.

Sokka’s head appeared over the edge of Appa’s saddle. “What my sister is so ineloquently trying to say, is that we kinda got used to being warm after being cold our whole lives. It’s not fun to go back to being cold.”

Toph shrugged, having really lost interest in the conversation. Sugar Queen could be cold all she wanted, she just didn’t particularly care to hear about it.

Sokka threw Katara the last of the bags, then hopped down. “I’ll try to get a fire started. Maybe we can warm up.”

“And cook,” Toph threw in. “I’m hungry. We haven’t eaten since before that stupid meeting this morning.”

Katara hummed in agreement in lieu of trying to talk. Her teeth were chattering, and quite frankly, she didn’t want to deal with Toph’s snide remarks in that moment. She dug through each of their bags until she found some rice and fruit. She swallowed hard in an attempt to keep her teeth from making too much noise and turned to Toph.

“Looks like it’s just rice and fruit tonight. Unless Aang brings back something else from town.”

“I doubt he will.” Sokka commented while kneeling next to a pile of wood. “When I talked to him right before we left he seemed eager to just get out of there.”

Katara rolled her eyes. She thought back to just before they’d left town, a little under an hour ago. Her boyfriend seemingly annoyed at the prospect of having to stay, but at the same time not wanting to upset the _very minor_ Earth Kingdom governor. She knew her saying anything about him coming with them and meeting the governor tomorrow would do nothing, and with night falling, she kind of just wanted to get somewhere warm, rather than stay outside and try to convince Aang of something he wouldn’t do anyway. “Yeah, he wanted to come with us, but that governor insisted it couldn’t wait.”

Toph scoffed as she stood up, making her way to Sokka. “I’m sure it could have waited.”

“We’re all sure it could have waited. People are just so ‘Avatar deprived’ that they think any minor issue of theirs deserves Aang’s utmost and full attention.” Sokka snorted. He dug the spark rocks out of his pocket, and quickly had a fire going. He stood up and gently pulled Toph back a few steps with him. Not all of his fires stayed contained where he started them, as most members of their group had learned the hard way.

Katara pulled her mouth to the side as she portioned rice out into four bowls. She wasn’t sure Aang would be hungry by the time he got there, but she’d rather just have it ready for him now than have him dig it out later. She left a few pieces of fruit by the bowl. He could pick what he wanted and slice his own when he got there. She didn’t want to slice it now and it be gross when he got back. “Yes, but Aang also doesn’t help matters by indulging them like he does. He could say no every once and a while.” She stood and walked towards her companions, handing Sokka some of the fruit. “Slice those.”

Sokka nodded, turning towards the stump Toph had previously been occupying to use as an impromptu cutting board. “Kid feels like he has to, though.”

Katara nodded slightly, knowing he was right, but hating the fact anyway.

“Why?” Toph questioned.

Katara sighed as she positioned the three bowls near the fire to warm up. “He’s got this notion that because he disappeared for 100 years he owes it to everyone to be everything, to _do_ anything they ask of him. Like he’s paying off a debt or something.”

Toph hummed. “I could see where he’s coming from. That doesn’t mean he has to do it.”

Katara shrugged. “Try telling that to him.” She loved him, she loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone or anything, but spirits he could be so _stubborn_ once he got an idea in his head. She’d tried and failed for years to convince him that he doesn’t have to be everywhere at once, that he doesn’t have to say yes to everything that was asked of him, that this pace he’d started was not going to last forever, and that he needed to rest at some point, and that the longer he put it off, the longer said rest would have to be. He’d listened to her, he really had. But that didn’t mean he took her advice. She rolled her eyes as she stood up again. ‘ _Stubborn Avatar_.’ She thought.

“Fruits ready.” Sokka called from his impromptu kitchen, pulling Katara out of her thoughts.

She followed Toph to the stump. Sokka had sliced each fruit into piles, making it easier for Toph to pick what she wanted. She put her hand on the stump, trying to get a feel of where each pile was.

“First pile is moon peaches, then dragonfruit, mango, papaya.” Sokka narrated for her.

  
Toph nodded her thanks and reached to gather what she wanted. Katara followed her, picking pieces from each pile, before trailing after Toph back to the fire. She lent to check the temperature on the rice bowls, before turning and handing one to Toph, grabbing the remaining two for herself and Sokka, who called from the stump “Is there more fruit for Aang, or should I leave him some?”

Katara dumped her fruit in her bowl before picking it up and grabbing her brother’s. “I left him some.”

Sokka smiled widely upon the realization he could have the rest of the pile of food, and raced to where Katara had set his bowl. He picked it up, rushing back to the stump and scooping the remaining fruit into his bowl, forming a pile of that reached two or three inches above the rim of it.

“So what’s the plan after this?” Toph questioned around a mouthful of food.

Katara shrugged while scooting closer to the fire. Having something to do took her mind off her coldness for a moment, but now that she was still again, it was coming back with a vengeance. “I’m sure there’s some other dignitary that demands Aang’s attention somewhere. Hopefully somewhere warmer.”

Toph rolled her sightless eyes at her. ‘ _Again with the cold_ ’.

Sokka swallowed most of his bite before commenting “Actually, I don’t think we’ve gotten anything from anywhere else. I’m sure they just can’t find us, since we move around so much, but believe it or not, I think we’re free tomorrow.”

“YES!” The hand that wasn’t holding Toph’s bowl shot up in the air, her hand making a fist. “We can sleep in, we don’t have to go to any stuffy meetings or meet with stuffier dignitaries!”

Katara thought if she hadn’t have been holding a bowl, Toph would be dancing.

An orange blur landed on the other side of the fire from the three of them. “Who’s stuffy?” Aang asked.

“All those stupid officials we have to meet with.” Toph answered without missing a beat.

Aang gave the slightest of shrugs before muttering a ‘Yeah…’ He snapped his glider closed as he walked around the fire to Katara, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. He was aiming for her head, but he couldn’t help but grin a little when she tilted her head up so he got her lips.

They both decidedly ignored Sokka’s muttering of “Oogies.”

“There’s a bowl and some fruit for you by the bags.” She said once they separated. “I didn’t know what time you would get back so it’s cold… and the fruits not sliced.” She added as an afterthought.

Aang hummed a reply as he went to dig for his food. He, much like the rest of his companions, hadn’t eaten since that morning, and he had started to feel it about five minutes into the meeting with the last governor. Not that that meant anything to the governor. Aang sighed a little, but let an easy smile take over his face when he turned back to his companions. Toph was tossing bits of rice at Sokka, who was catching them with his mouth. Katara was shaking her head at them, but had an amused smile on her face. He settled next to her, and summoned a small flame to heat his rice. He couldn’t help but notice how her eyes immediately settled on his hand, watching as he lightly waved it around the bowl, trying to get everything to heat evenly.

“What?” He questioned her. “Is there something on my hand?” He dissipated the flame and started examining his hand. Her dark hand covered his pale one, and when Aang looked up at his girlfriend, she had a sort of sheepish smile on her face.

“It’s nothing,” She started, still a little sheepish. “I’ve just been cold since the sun went down. Heated hands seemed appealing.”

She shrugged a little, and it took every inch of willpower in Aang’s body as well as all the willpower of every Avatar before him to keep his thoughts from racing towards how exactly he could warm her up with his hands. He shook his head as wildly inappropriate thoughts threatened to take over anyway. He swallowed hard as he gave her a look over, realizing for the first time that she’d pulled her old parka out, and was huddling as close to the fire as she dared with it on, and was still shivering a little.

“Hold on.” He mumbled as he stood back up, turning back towards the bags a few steps behind him. He pulled out a simple yellow blanket, returning to Katara and letting it drape around her shoulders.

She looked at it before looking at him as he settled back down next to her, brow furrowed. “Where did you get this?”

He shrugged as he kept his eyes on Toph and Sokka, who had evolved their game into Sokka trying to catch multiple pieces of fruit at once. “One of the few things I grabbed from the air temple.” He didn’t really want to talk about it, but strangely he didn’t want to _not_ talk about it either. The whole thing just made his stomach tighten up in knots.

Her brow was still furrowed, but her hands moved over the simple fabric more reverently. She began to gather it, carefully, to try to give it back to Aang. “No, I’m fine, really.”

He shrugged again as he grabbed an edge to wrap it back around her. “It’s okay, Katara. I’ve used it since then. I’ve come to terms with it… the best I can, anyway. It’s a piece of my past, and I kind of like seeing you using it.” He finally looked at her, a small, soft smile on his face. “A piece of my past being used by my future.”

Katara smiled at him, just barely keeping her tears at bay. She leant forward, capturing his lips with hers. He let one hand slip to her waist, keeping a tight hold on her parka, anchoring her to him, while the other settled on her shoulder, feeling the fabric from his home underneath his fingers. His own tears slid silently down, the salty taste lingering on both their lips, but neither willing to part for them. She just pulled herself forward, keeping herself upright with one hand, but using the other to gently caress his face, wiping tears off his cheek with her thumb. They finally separated when the need to breathe became too much.

She straightened herself, aligning her body closer to his, and wrapped half of the blanket around him, enveloping them both in its warmth. He wrapped an arm around her, and she let her head rest on his shoulder. They sat in amicable silence for a moment, watching Toph and Sokka, who had changed their game again. Toph sat completely still, mouth open, while Sokka tried to land rice pieces in her mouth.

“Do you ever think those two will age past 10?” Katara eventually asked.

Aang laughed, sniffling a little, and wiped his face off with the back of his hand, pulling her impossibly closer with the other. “No, but that’s okay.”

She laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

They went back to their silence, and Aang turned his head towards her, breathing in the scent of her hair, calming him. He tightened his grip slightly on her hip, and she sat still, all too willing to just be there for him, as he’d been for her time and time again. After a few seconds of him just breathing against the top of her head, his grip lessened again. He exhaled one last time, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Sorry.” He mumbled against her skin, placing another kiss against it.

She shook her head slightly. “Don’t be. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

He took another deep breath, stilling himself, before finally drawing away. He gave her a smile and a slight peck on the nose. She knew that was as much of an ‘I’m okay’ as she’d be getting for now, but it was enough.

They turned back to their companions, who had morphed into arguing about Sokka’s aim, and whether or not he intentionally threw a piece of rice up her nose. Aang leant over to kiss her temple, still chuckling at the other two.

“Toph, you know as well as I do that Sokka’s aim isn’t good enough to go up your nose.” Katara called, laughing at the two of them. Aang laughed slightly against her temple.

Sokka motioned towards Katara without turning around. “Thank you! See, even my sister- HEY!” He whipped around to glare at her as what she said registered to him.

Katara’s laughter increased, leaning forward and dislodging Aang from her temple. He wasn’t too upset, however, laughing uproariously right along with her.

Toph looked very smug, Katara, now settling, looked rather pleased with herself. Sokka just looked defeated, glancing between the two of them. “I’m just gonna go set up my tent…” He muttered, walking away from them.

Toph grinned at his general direction for a moment before spreading her arms, an earth tent forming before her. “I’m gonna get some shut eye too.” She stated, to no one in particular. She waltzed into her tent before another rock shifted up, locking her in, and more importantly, everyone else out. Toph did not appreciate being woken up, and now that she knew they had nothing to do tomorrow, she would have some very choice words for anybody that tried to wake her up before she was good and ready.

Katara finally caught her breath, sitting upright and tucking herself back into Aang. He was all too happy to oblige. She sat there, comfortable just leaning against him while he ate, and accepting the small slices of fruit he offered her from time to time. When he finally finished, he disengaged her, gathering his bowl as well as hers, and walking around to where Sokka’s and Toph’s had been left, forgotten. He jerked his head in the direction of a river they knew was nearby.

“I’m going to wash these.”

Katara, having grabbed Aang’s end of the blanket once he stood up, stretched her arms out, lifting the yellow fabric above her head as she did so. “Do you want some help?” She asked, her arms still stretched above her.

Her words snapped him out of his trance. For all the memories wrapped up in that blanket, seeing it wrapped around _Katara_ just _did_ something to him. He shook his head slightly, both at his thoughts and her words. “Nah,” He said, turning towards the river. “You got everything ready, I can at least clean up.”

Katara hummed, settling her arms back around her. “But you were in meetings all day.”

Aang didn’t even turn around as his steps took him further into the darkness. “So were you.”

She frowned at his retreating back. “But you had more than me!”

Aang rolled his eyes slightly and smiled, unbeknownst to her. ‘ _Stubborn Water Tribe woman_.’ He thought.

In lieu of a reply, he just waved her off, as much to irk her as anything. He got a nice water whip to the back of the head for that one. He turned back to smile at her. She was shaking her head at him, but had a mischievous smile on her face. She was still seated by the fire, the blanket wrapped around her so that only her head poked out. Aang felt his thoughts start to divebomb into the gutter, so he turned, calling over his shoulder “Just let me. I’ll be right back.”

Katara rolled her eyes and watched him walk down the small hill that the river was at the bottom of. Once he was out of sight, she stood and stretched properly. She wanted to leave the blanket wrapped around her, but decided against it. She carefully folded it and placed it on the stump turned seat turned cutting board, and began to work on her own tent. She was almost done when Aang came back, tying off the last stake while he set the newly cleaned bowls down. He began to grab his bedding to place in the tent when Sokka’s head appeared out of his own.

“I don’t know what you’re doing with that bedding, Aang. You haven’t set up your own tent yet.” He gave Aang and Katara a pointed look.

While Katara was readying herself for a war of words with her brother, Aang put his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. “I know.” He replied brightly. “I was just moving it so I could get to my tent stuff.”

Sokka looked at him for a moment longer before nodding once, and disappearing back into his tent. Katara fixed her glare at Aang. “You should’ve just let me handle him. He knows, he’s _known_ that we sleep next to each other.”

Aang chuckled a little as he placed his other hand on her other shoulder, pulling her to him and kissing her forehead. “You hurt his pride earlier. He’s just trying to get back at you. Besides,” He said while releasing her and beginning to set up his own tent. “It’s just one night.”

“Easy for you to say.” Katara muttered as she stomped over to where she’d laid the Air Nomad blanket, lifting it up to let it unfold itself and wrapping it around her. “I’m sleeping with this then.” She stated with a flip of her hair before disappearing into her tent.

Her wrapped in his blanket as well as the hair flip she had given him just before she’d gone inside had him seriously reconsidering his words to Sokka. But he knew the Water Tribe man was still awake inside his tent, probably listening to them. With a slight groan, he turned back to his tent, beginning the set up. “I _wish_ it was easy for me to say.” He muttered under his breath, pulling out the first of his stakes.

* * *

He didn’t know how long it had been, only that he’d gotten his tent set up and was asleep before his head had hit his pillow. Something had awoken him, and in the dim light, he couldn’t quite tell what. He summoned a small flame as he sat up, and Katara jumped back.

“Katara!” He whisper-shouted. He diminished his flame as much as he could while still being able to see. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He sat up and held the flame closer to her, while propping himself up on his other arm.

She shook her head in the dim light. “No, it’s fine. I just didn’t know you were awake.”

He took a moment to look at her. She wouldn’t quite meet his eyes, preferring to look at the ground beneath her bare feet. She was wrapped in his blanket still, and was standing just barely inside the entrance to his tent, but seemed to be alright. “Are you okay?” He questioned, unsure why she would come in his tent if she thought he wasn’t awake.

She bit her lip while still looking at the ground, seemingly kicking at nothing with her foot.

“Katara?” He pressed further, shifting himself to reach towards her with the hand not holding the flame. She still wouldn’t look at him, and he realized he couldn’t really touch her with how she had the blanket wrapped around herself anyway. He settled for pulling on the blanket itself, coaxing her to come towards him. When she was in front of him, he shifted his pulling from towards him to down to him, getting her to settle in front of him with her legs crossed in what would be a meditative pose if she was any good at meditating. Aang smiled at his thought. He loved her, he really, really did. She was amazing at so many things, it blew his mind. But she was spirits awful at meditating. He brushed these thoughts aside for a moment, and moved to her side, slipping an arm around her. She immediately pushed further into his side, and for the first time he realized she was shivering. “You’re cold.” He stated, letting his small flame die and adjusting himself to wrap his other arm around her.

She nodded, tucking her head into his neck. “I got cold in my tent.”

Her reason for being there suddenly dawned on Aang, and he chuckled at himself. “Come here, then.” He shifted the both of them, lifting up his bedding and laying her down under it, the yellow blanket still wrapped around her. He settled himself next, pulling the bedding up over both of them before wrapping his arms over her shivering figure, pulling her in close to him. Finally, he let his hands heat, not hot enough to call a flame, but certainly warmer than normal, and rubbed them over her arms and back.

She moaned her appreciation, and Aang again had to summon every ounce of willpower he had not to respond to it. ‘ _Although it would warm her up…_ ’ ‘ _No!’_ A voice that sounded suspiciously like Roku’s voiced it’s opinion in Aang’s head, and he rolled his eyes at it. He settled for rubbing soothing circles on her back, trying to get her warmed up. “Better?” He mumbled against the top of her head. She just nodded, and tucked herself further into him.

Aang let out a sigh of pleasure, and continued his ministrations. Sokka might say something in the morning, but Aang was prepared to take it if it meant he could sleep with his beautiful girlfriend in his arms. After all, they were only keeping warm.


End file.
